Rangers boss Steven Gerrard will set high standards and accept no excuses at Ibrox

IT is one thing understanding the pressures, the demands and the expectations, but quite another being able to live with them and rise above them. For Steven Gerrard, no excuses will be offered, and none will be accepted.

The 38-year-old dealt with those burdens throughout his glittering playing career as he inspired those around him for club and country. Now, he must do so from the touchline rather than the middle of the park.

Gerrard’s appointment as Rangers manager has re-energised a support that had become disillusioned by a series of abject failures by the previous incumbents and there is an excitement coursing through the fan base ahead of the new campaign.

When Gerrard meets his players for the first time at the newly rebranded Hummel Training Centre this morning, he will need to see that same enthusiasm and passion in their eyes.

“It is all good, positive news, the season tickets and the fans’ excitement,” Gerrard said.

“This club is about the fans. We are aware of that and we want to give them a team that they are proud of, an exciting team.

“But first and foremost the players have to understand the demands of the fans and the demands of this football club and that is what me and my staff will be reminding them of every single day.

“We need to have standards and levels around this training facility to improve, to learn and to grow and to become a solid team so we can deliver results when we get down to Ibrox and other stadiums around the world.

“We want the players to buy into it, we want them to push, we want them to try and hit certain levels and standards that this club accepts because, unfortunately, levels haven’t been hit in recent times and that is the reason why I am here.”

Gerrard chose to keep his distance during the final weeks of the campaign as he watched on whilst Rangers slumped to a third place finish in the Premiership.

He officially started work on June 1 and his arrival in Glasgow on Wednesday provided another shot of enthusiasm to the Light Blue legions.

The Liverpool legend spent several hours meeting staff at Ibrox and Auchenhowie on Thursday as he and his backroom team added a much-appreciated personal touch to proceedings.

“The atmosphere has to be positive and that is not just for the players, that’s for the staff as well,” Gerrard said.

“Once I have time to have meetings with the staff and the Academy staff, we need to create an environment here that the players skip into with smiles on their faces and that they want to come in here and work and push themselves.

“So we give them no excuses to make sure they are in top, top shape, that they are in good shape physically and mentally, so we leave them with no excuses when they go on the pitch.

“That is not just down to me, I need to have every single staff – whether you are in the laundry, in the canteen, in the gym, whether you are a doctor, a physio – everyone has to be on the same page to push these players and leave them with no excuses to perform.”

It says much about Gerrard that he took the time to meet and greet those behind the scenes but some relationships are already well established and forged.

Alongside Mark Allen, the Director of Football, and Head of Scouting Andy Scoulding, Gerrard has already sanctioned deals for six players this summer.

It has been a week of first impressions so far for the Anfield legend but he is determined to leave a lasting one at Ibrox after agreeing a four-year deal with Rangers.

“You used the word ‘team’ in the question and that is what it is,” Gerrard said.

“There is no order, there is no ego. Myself, Mark and Andy have been in constant touch, every single day, about ways to move things forward and the relationship is building and is growing.

“They have been a solid base for me in the early stages of the job and they will be moving forward. You will see that team growing and become stronger and hopefully between us we can make some really important decisions for the football club.

“The ball already started rolling when I retired and going in at Liverpool as a youth coach and getting used to going in and handling players individually and collectively and being on the football pitch and getting that experience.

“Of course, I have moved into an institution in the game, a giant in world football so it is going to take time for me to grow, to get used to the surroundings and people and build relationships but so far so good. I am well aware how big the job is and what needs to go into it.”

Gerrard has already had introductory conversations with a handful of the players he has inherited at Ibrox but the coming days will be key to forging stronger bonds.

Rangers will spend ten days at a training camp from Sunday and Gerrard knows the time off the park could be as important as that spent on it.

He told RangersTV: “The key to Spain is fitness and that we keep everyone fit and healthy and we push them and give them right level of training and volume every day to push the fitness levels.

“But, more importantly, it is to live together, for the players to get used to the staff, for the staff to get used to the players and we start this team bonding and camaraderie and we get the squad in a good place.

“Looking in from afar last year, it looked a bit disjointed, and we can’t have that here at a football club this size. Everyone has to be singing from the same hymn sheet and we start building that from the first day in Spain.”

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